Drawer guide and support



Sept. 21, 1943. c. c. LUCAS DRAWER GUIDE AND SUPPORT Filed June 29, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 21, 1943. c. c. LUCAS 2,329,846

DRAWER GUIDE AND SUPPORT Filed June 29, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aka/ i; E 7 J1 36 14 4519 37 5 J0 7 L \g JZ Patented Sept 21, 1943 H Chester 0. LuioasRockf-ord, 111;, assigncr to Geo. D; Roper Corporation, Rockford; 111.,a corporation' of Illinois Q Application June 29, 1940, .Ser i al 13m, 343,114 zClaimse {(145417) 1 This inventionrelates tofldrawer guides and supports emb omdyin'g ahti-friction baIlhearingS.

The principal object 'of myinvention is to provide. a drawer guide assembly of simple, economi'cal and durableconstruction that combines} noise .dampenmg and anti-friction f qualities and.

which I is 'I designed" tov be cabinet compartment. 1 A' further "objectfof fmy readily installed, in a tvention' is to provide a drawer guide assembly of-a semi-rigid and resilient construction that will withstand stresses to which'the drawer my be subjected intheopen positions, without permanently 1 distorting the opposed guide rails and; resultingin binding and irregular drawer movement. The guide rails ctmy inventionare specially formed toobtain the desired strength and rigidity without -sacrificing lightness.

Another importantv object of my invention is to provide a drawer guide assembly which can be accurately fabricated in uantity-production :so that the drawer'wi ll move withuniform smooth-, ness throughout: its travel- :This; object is achieved in giny invention through the use of, V -shaped rails disposed. in laterally; spaced 'relation balls reliably engaged; therebetween; the said halls-gheingheld therebetween under, com-i:

pression resul-tiirggficml a slight springing apart of said rails,-..whereloy toieliminate play and make;

for quieto peration."

1 invention'fiszi-ltdstratedinxthe accompanyii in: drawings, Which-*5 1 isg-a perspective view of 'a' kitc'h'en range 1 showing ;'as prominentlyas .i-possible adrawer. and o'copmatingaguide and support .assembly madevin accordance with invention;

Fig. 2 is a top view of the, movable dra frameahdthestationary-frame; I

: rage-i a longitudinal teiacai secatn or the; drawer and drawer guide and port asseinhly;

showing tnearawer an openfpos'i't-ion;

MS a top "view of onesideporti'on of the drawer guide and support assembly showing the mbvabl d wer r m iiath'eiene q il .nz i

drawer ai'iddraw r,

on alarger -sca,l'e; n I v "is a vertical; longitudinal sectional detail of ori'e of theft: V I

the drawer to the movable frame,"

7 is a vertical longitudinal sectional detail of the spring pressed do or cushioning and retain-1. I L

ing roller; "and T m ie-warden section f the guide and support assembly? 50 .ftnat a're "used in attaching 7 Figs; 8, and are fragmentary sectionail details showing modifiedlor alternative construe; tions of the door guide rails.

The same reference numerals are ap'il i d 5 corresponding parts throughoutv the views. A' stationary frame consisting of two sheet metal side rails B and 9 in parallel relation and four cross-members lD is horizontally positioned within ja vcasing formed in ;the,.,present instance bya compartment 2 oi. a kitchen; range. generallyv designated by fthe' numeral l [,fwhich has been.

designed." tor the reception lof a. drawer. 'The crossi-i'nemhers, |0, which are downwardly facing,

c11annels-,1are;spaced along the railsfl and Sand disposedat rightanglestheretoand are welded or otherwise v igidly secured to the bottom faces of the base flanges" l2 and4l3 .on the rails. The rails, 8,9, are formed toprovideimmrdly facing v sliaped grooves or ballgways" 11, extending sub, stantially their entirelength, and along the tops;

of therrails and integral therewith extend-reinforcing flanges l4, 1.5; 1'1espectively. 4

l 'Ilhe movahle frame, whichv suitably designedfor the mounting-Mora drawer Hi, consists of parallel sheet metal. side rails l1, l8, that: are. connected hy fourlcross-memhers 19. The cross members. I flnwhich are upwardly facing channels are welded or otherwise rigidly secured at their respective ends tow-the top'faces of base flanges 2D and Zl of: these movable rails, The rail-s H, |8,- are formed to prow'de outwandly facing ,V- -i shaped grooves or. ball-ways band, integral re-: inforcingflangesZL 23, respectively, both of': which extend vforsubstantially the length of the;

rails.

The movable frame is positioned vv-i-thinthe' stationary f-rame, as illustrated in Fig. 5, 'sothat the movable-side rails and stationary side rails are inparallel spaced relation two pairs of balls, 24-, 25, and 2B, 21, being' riollably engaged there between infthe grooves a and :b.j..The halls of both pairs arenormally spaced lengthwise of'the';

v rails, as shown i'n.Fig. 2. The; grooves vat andbs:

have their. gsides'in substantially right -ang;le re-- lations'hip,-andthe .bal1s }242 are of-such Sizeas tol'ngage in the grooves and roll on substantially horizontal axes} that substantially bisect the angles defined by said grooves= When thebal-ls l 24-21are maintained in properly spaced relation within therails, they provide an-antifriction andnon tiltable mounting for the movable frame on which thedrawer .lBis mounted. Stop lugs, 11 which are screws entered in threaded and prop erly spaced holes in the rails, are provided at 28,.

29 on' the stationary rails and at 30, 3| on the movable rails. As the movable frame moves outwardly relative to the stationary one, the antifriction balls will travel a distance along the stationary rails that is a fraction of the distance moved by the movable frame. The lugs 28 on the stationary frame and the lugs 33 on the movable frame are so spaced to allow only the desired amount of drawer opening movement. When the forward balls 24 are stopped by the lugs 28, the lugs 35] will engage the same balls from behind, thereby preventing any further movement of the movable frame. Likewise lugs 29 on the stationary frame and lugs 3| on the treme upward or downward stress is applied to the drawer in the open positions, the opposed rails will flex apart at the top or bottom, though not sufliciently to release the balls retained therebetween, and, upon release of the stress, will return to the normal spaced relationship. It has been found that a more rigid rail construction and mounting than one substantially as described is disposed to reset itself at the stress position and thereby result in misalignment of the opposed rails and, consequently, binding and irregular operation, which are faults not present movable frame are so spaced that the balls 25 will meet the stop lugs 29 and will be engaged by lugs 3| from behind when the front balls reach their limits of forward travel. As the movable frame is returned, all of the balls will roll back to approximately their starting positions,'but in the event one or more fail to roll the fulldistance back, such balls will be automatically jogged back into correct relationshipto the other balls by the lugs 28-3 l the next time the drawer is pulled all of the way out,jas should be clear fromastudyofFig.4.

Prior practice has indicated thatit is only with V-shap'edrails, in which each rollably engaged ball travels in iden'tical tracks in the grooves. of

the rails, that a constantdistance o'f travel'o'f the.

ball on the rails canbe maintained; This char acteristic of the laterally spaced rails, having ubstantially 90 V-grooves, and the rollably engaged balls therebetween is highly important'in achieving the desired operation of tli' 'present drawer guide mechanism. travel of different balls varied, thepredetermined maximum opening of the drawer could be obtained in certain cases only by skidding some of the balls certain distances to the forward stop positions by engagement therewith from. behind by their related lugs "mountedcn'themovable frame. Such a' skidding movement obviously would produce a binding effect and would sooner or later cause enough wear Qllthe balls to ruin the smooth rolling action entirely. The novel construction and operation ofthe present guide eliminate those objections found in other guides.

The stationary and movable side rails are is filled or empty, that is not possibleto achieve with other ball and rail assemblies with which I. Such a dampenin effect is espe am familiar. cially desirable where the drawer and enclosing casing are of sheet metal construction, for in this type of cabinet the slightest sound tehdsjto' bev amplified. The compression mounting of the balls also provides sufficient drag topprevent'too rapid opening or closing of thedrawerand the resulting slams which might occur, inadvertently,

where the balls are freely mounted; This drag' is, also sufficient to maintainthe drawer easily in 1 any partly opened position. y

The resilient quality of the opposed pairs of rails made possible through their semi-rigid construction and their mounting on the respective cross-membersgivesa certain amountof flexibility to the mounting of the movable frame 1 within the stationary frame so that whe QX-r -i If the distance of in this construction.

The drawer I6 comprising front and back walls 32 and 33, two side walls 34, and a recessed bottom 35 is secured to the back of the movable vious that through the described clip and screw means the drawer 16 may be very readily attached or detached fromthemovable frame;

A roller 44 is rotatably mounted on the rear end of a rearwardly extending U-shaped wire spring 45 that is secured by a screw .46 onjrear cross-member IU of the stationary framebetween struck-up bosses 41. The spring 45 is upwardly inclined so that when the rear cross member IQ of the movable frame travels past the roller 44 the upwardly indented portion 48 of the rear cross-member receives the roller, as illustrated in Fig. '7. This roller detent device acts to cushion thedrawer in closing, thereby'preventing banging, and also to retain the drawer in the closed position so as topr'event any inadthrough slots 5|] provided in the backwall 5| of the range I I for support of the rear end of the stationary frame in a way which'enables uick. and easy assembling of the drawerstructure in the range. At the front end-"of the stationary frame are some sheet metalbrackets 52 fastened to the front ends of the side rails 8 and 9 by screws 53 entered through the flanges l2and l3,

these brackets being secured to the front frame l 54 of the rangeby screws 55, thus further facili-" tating assemblingof the drawer structure in the range.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a different construction for the side rails of the stationary and. movable frames, only one side rail 8a of the stationary frame and one side rail I la of the movable frame being shown, and it being understood that the other side of the drawer guide structure 8.}; counterpart of what is illustrated. The side rail;

8a, it will be noticed, has a brace strip 56 extend: ing lengthwise of the rail in a plane at approximately 45 to thelhorizontalwith its upperedge, fitting in the crotch formed between the reinstrip 58 having abutment along its upper. edge in the crotch under the top flange 22 of the rail while the lower edge is welded, as at 59, to the top of the bottom flange 20 of said rail. These strips 56 and 58 serve to buttress the V-grooved portions of the rails 8a and [la so that there will be only a small fraction of the amount of give, in these portions of the rails that there is when the rails are without such bracing, as in Fig. 5 for example. Two other alternative constructions are illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10, Fig. 9 showing only the side rails of the stationary frame, like that shown at 8a, braced as indicated at 55, whereas Fig. 10 shows the side rails of the movable frame, like that indicated at Ila, braced a shown at 58. With these two alternative con- It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. A drawer guide construction comprising in combination, a stationary frame and a movable frame, one of said frames comprising parallel sheet metal side rails for opposite sides of a drawer rigidly interconnected and spaced apart by a plurality of cross-members, each side rail providing a single, substantially vertical, relatively resilient portion bent to V-shaped section to forman inwardly facing ball-way, the other of said frames comprising parallel sheet metal side rails for opposite sides of the drawer rigidly interconnected and spaced apart by a plurality of cross-members, each of the latter side rails providing a single, relatively resilient, vertical outwardly facing ball-way, a drawer having means for securing the same to said movable frame, the side rails of one of said frames being spaced so as to operate between the side rails ofthe other of said frames in closely spaced relation thereto and with companion ball-ways in 2. A drawer guide construction comprising, in

spaced so as to operate between the side rails ofthe other of said frames in closely spaced relation thereto and with companion ball-ways in register, and bearing balls disposed between I the side rails of the frames having close rolling I fits in saidball-ways.

portion bent to V-shaped section to form an combination, a stationary frame and a movable frame, one of said frames comprising parallel sheet metal side rails for opposite sides of a drawer rigidly interconnected and spaced apart by a plurality of "cross-members, each side rail providing a single, substantially vertical, relatively'resilient portion bent to a V-shaped section to form an inwardly facing ball-way, the

3. A drawer guide structure comprising a pair of resilient sheet metal rails formed to provide inwardly facing V-shaped grooves, means for mounting said rails in parallel relation along the side walls of a drawer casing, other resilient sheet metal rails formed to provide outwardly facing v-shaped grooves and disposed in parallel spaced relation with respect to the stationary rails and with the outwardly facing grooves registering with the inwardly facing grooves, a drawer adapted to operate within the said casing and secured to the movable rails for movement therewith, balls rollably engaged within the grooves of and between the respective movable and stationary rails, the said balls being held therebetween under compression resulting from a slight springing apart of the resilient guide rails, each of the rails of one set having laterally projecting substantially parallel top and I bottom flanges extending in posterior relation to the V-formedball receiving grooves, one of the .flanges on each rail being an attaching flange and the other a reinforcing flange, and means for bracing said set of guide rails to reduce lateral give thereof away from the, other guide rails, comprising brace strips, one for each of sheet metal rails formed to provide outwardly facing V-shaped grooves and disposed in parallel spaced relation with respect to the stationary rails and with the outwardly facing grooves registering with the inwardly facing grooves, a drawer adapted to operate within the said casing and secured to the movable rails for movement therewith, balls rollably engaged within the grooves of and between the respective movable and stationary rails, the said balls being held therebetween under compression resulting from a' slight springing apart of the resilient guide rails, each of the rails of the two sets having laterally projecting substantially parallel top and bottom flanges extending in posterior relation to the V-formed ball receiving grooves, one of the flanges on each rail being an attaching flange and the other a reinforcing flange, and.

means for bracing the two sets of guide rails to 1 reduce lateral give thereof away from one another, comprising brace strips, one for each of said rails, disposed in acute angular relation to the attaching flanges resting against the backs of the V-formed portions of said rails and having the one longitudinal edge portion of the strips in abutment with the reinforcingflanges and the other longitudinal edge portion of the strips secured to the attaching flanges.

CHESTER C. LUCAS. 

